REVIEW: Francis Love Bunny

Background

Artist Ingri Von Bergen began creating handmade plushies based on her illustrated characters. She launched her company – House of Ingri – with those creations landing at several of the big toy boutique shops in NYC. They were also featured in their very own book: Me! Me! ABC. In 2006, the line went into “hibernation” due to the demands of a one person operation.

In 2010, Ingri relaunched the House of Ingri with her first series of plush characters – Francis & Friends. The series currently consists of five different characters, the first of which we'll be reviewing here – Francis Love Bunny.

Straight from the tag: Francis is a love bunny, (he thinks you're a love bunny too) his dream is to be loved someday, by some bunny like you.

The tag is made up of two parts. The front, white tag features the House of Ingri logo, while the blue tag has the name of the character and a short bio on the back.

Our Opinion

In the land of plush, it's all about making your character unique. And that's the first thing I noticed about the Francis Love Bunny plush. It's surprisingly unique. The first thing you notice about this character are his eyes. They were designed with a circular piece of fabric that functions as the eyelids. There's a small oval cutout in the center, so you can see most of the actual acrylic eyeball. It gives Francis a tired (err...stoned) look.

Francis also features an embroidered grinning mouth and a faux suede heart on his chest. There's a weird little plastic nose on the front (you'll either love it or hate it) and a nubby tail on the rear.

Something else that might not be apparent...the plush has some weight to it thanks to beans (not the baked variety). The arms and lower rear portion of the Francis plush are stuffed with beans. It doesn't help with sitting or standing, but it does add a little weight and texture to the plush.

The seam work is all well done. I don't see any major issues there. No loose strings or sloppy lines. The plush is soft, but it's somewhat offset by the plastic eyes and nose.

OVERALL: Fans of Me! Me! ABC are going to love getting their hands on several of the plush characters from the book. But the Francis & Friends line, particularly Francis, can be enjoyed by everyone. The appeal of the Francis plush is all in the eyelids. If you take them away, you have a completely different character. If you have a plush fan in your life...they're gonna love Francis.